Play's wasteful packaging is a game of cat and mouse

It's been a while since we ribbed Play.com for the wasteful packaging, so here's another tale of excess from avid Bitterwallet reader Danny. Cue a succession of less avid Bitterwallet readers complaining in the comments "Why is this news?" and so on.

yes, i got a pair of tiny earphones in the same size box last week - i couldnt beleive it when i got it -thought i'd ordered headphones by mistake or something.. but no, a set of tiny ear buds with a 1m cable came out the box, in a plastic wrapper about half the size of the one that mouse is in, in the photo.

I wanted to add my comment on Play's packaging. I received a DVD boxset from them which instead of putting in a cardboard box, which they typically do for even the smallest item, they sent it in a flimsy plastic bag so the boxset got damaged.
When I wrote to Play to tell them that perhaps they should consider sending boxsets in more protective packaging, they had this unhelpful reply
"Although we accept that greater packaging would ensure that this problem never occurs, it would prove more expensive, and this is a cost we are loath to pass onto our customers, particularly given that the overwhelming majority of the items we sell are delivered in excellent condition.
It would be very problematic for us to implement different packaging options given that a major part of our company message is to deliver all our items with no delivery charge, something that would need to change if we were to offer alternatives.
We appreciate your frustration regarding this situation, however we regret there is nothing further we can do. "
Even though Amazon, Zavvi etc can post things in some cardboard for free apparently it would be "problematic" and "expensive" for Play to do the same, even though they post small cheap items in massive boxes for free!

I bought a small Philips screwdriver from Screwfix once (admittedly because it was the cheapest thing I could find to bump the rest of my order into the free delivery zone), and it turned up in a box six inches high and nearly two foot square!
Admittedly Screwfix are more used to sending power tools and bigger items, so they have a bit more of an excuse than Play.

yeah, the problem with play's packaging is not that they're too big, but that they're too sh*t. putting a small item in a big box creates a nice "stone tumbler" effect - great if you've bought some pebbles that need shining, not so good for everything else.
thinking about all the returned broken items play must be throwing away makes my head hurt.

This is nothing compared to sainsburys. At work we recently ordered 40 new mugs from sainsburys. Each mug was individually boxed and wrapped in a metre of bubble wrap. It took our receptionist about an hour and a half to unpack it all and slit the wrap for the bins.

@Phil
It's pretty simple. It's 2010 and the onus is on companies to think ethically about eco issues. Amazon committed to an entire range of products with minimalistic packaging, while sites like play are wasting materials sending items in boxes three times the required size. This is a consumer blog. That's why it's news.
Most of Bitterwallet's readership are waaaaaaaaay too thick to comprehend that though.